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\f0\b\fs24 \cf0 Twenty-five\
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\f1\b0 Mana turned away from the bar in a twirl of green robes. The sword at his side had ceased shuddering and, taking its place, his face moved incessantly, unable to decide on expression. He looked the dabbler up and down from where he sat, unsure of exactly how to react.
\f0\b \
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\f1\b0 "We have no interest in your revolution," the Joker stated plainly.\
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"Royal criminals, eh?" the dabbler laughed. "Why the we?"\
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"Criminal indeed," the Joker snorted. "Look at yourself, Jikkuu-user. I was referring to myself and Mana."\
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"In life, brother-in-talents, men become men through the making of decisions! Yes, everyone must make his or her own choices, and become a better person by it. And this, oh brother, this is the young master's choice, is it not?" the man cackled. "So, Master? What say you?"\
\
"I\'d1"
\f2\i I want to help this man. I want to make it so that he doesn't need to call his existence a revolution. I want to make it so that he isn't labeled a Jikkuu-user, but rather an ordinary citizen of my father's lands. I want to help this man, but I can't aid a revolt\'d1\
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\f1\i0 "No way!" Oberon shouted, turning back around from the counter in anger. "Get out of here this instant, dog."\
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"No need to be so harsh," the Joker said gently.\
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"No, there is a need," Oberon commented gruffly. "Otherwise the idiot thinks he can get you to help him."\
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"I'm not an idiot. I'll have you know that I exited the best university in Mist with flying colors, and that..." The dabbler sounded hurt, and trailed off, not spirited enough to keep going. Mana's face, twisted into an expression of apprehension, softened.\
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"Let's hear him out," he suggested.\
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"No," was Oberon's response.\
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"I'm with the general, for you, Mana," the Joker chimed in.\
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"The young master is the master here," the dabbler declared. "I don't know who you are, but you won't interfere with him helping me."\
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"I'm the Head General of the Libran Alliance," Oberon said almost carelessly, repeating his introduction from before. \
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"I'm a Ly'ban," the Joker stated with equal disregard.\
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"Everyone, be quiet." Mana's order was absolute. The dabbler didn't make so much as to utter a single word as Oberon and the Joker shook their heads in silence. "Luke, Oberon. I don't care about your inhibitions. We're safe so long as Gem gets out of here and these spies are silenced, right? So we'll go with this man, and I'll make a small detour along the way to restoring my family's honor. If anything, fighting against the Purge will only further exhibit my stance regarding Lont's mistakes."\
\
"Mana\'d1"\
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"No, Luke," Mana said flatly. "I'm not willing to compromise." The dabbler's face shone as he smiled in Mana's direction. "Now I'm going to keep these Underworlders from talking." A few hand motions, a pulse through the air, and the Third Circle Pillars were sent reeling backwards, capable of movement once again but no longer able to speak. They clawed at their throats as they tore out of the pub. "Mage, what is your name?"\
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"I'm Ay," said the dabbler, after a moment's hesitation. After another brief pause, he cautiously inquired, "I'm a mage now?"\
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"The idea of a 'dabbler' can disappear," Mana smiled, making a tossing gesture.\
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"Mana wait a minute," the Joker broke in quickly, talking as fast as he could in order to not be interrupted by the Guardian Heir, "Mana you know that the term 'dabbler' is necessary because 'magi' need to be registered and if you decide to just register all known 'dabblers' then when the next Purge comes around or if you fail then they're all going to die right?" The Joker turned to Ay. "Your best defense as a dabbler is to remain such."\
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"Then I just won't fail." Mana's confidence shone through in his words and smile, and the revolutionist dabbler-turned-mage Ay reflected this radiance in his own smile and nodded response. "It's not a revolution, Ay. It's a change in opinions."\
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"Allow me to show you to our base of operations," Ay said, barely able to talk for fear of losing his smile. Mana nodded and stood; then, as he recalled the Joker's fast save and the fireballs that had almost engulfed the Underworlders, he said,\
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"But Ay, no killing."\
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"No killing?" Ay demanded, his smile turned into an angry grimace. "Master, you must keep in mind that for eight decades, it is us who have been killed! The Purge and the hate derived from it have led to the ends of hundreds of our kind!"\
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"You've got it wrong," Mana sighed quietly. "There is no 'our kind.' We're people, just like anyone else. Keep that in mind as you make our stance public. We're not dangerous. Jikkuu isn't dangerous."\
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"He didn't think this through at all. It's clear in his intent to kill those Underworlders. Proof that he doesn't have full control of his wits," Oberon growled. "I can overlook the criminal\'d1no need to drag him back to the palace for prosecution. One more dabbler isn't something for the government to fret over. But Milord, don't humor him."\
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"Oberon. You know why I left the palace, right?"\
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"To retrieve the Crystals, Milord." The general scowled as he spoke, dissatisfied with both this turn of events and the larger picture\'d1Mana's blatant disregard for Libran law and worse, his own safety, in embarking on this quest.\
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"And why that?"\
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"I have no idea, Milord."\
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"He wants to restore his family's honor," the Joker muttered. Oberon burst out laughing.\
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"Serious, Milord?" Tears streamed down the general's face as he shut his red eyes and winced in mirth. "Is the Joker right? You want to restore honor to the Mana line?" He made as if to ask more questions, but then broke down completely and just laughed, hunched forward on his barstool. Strands of light blue hair fell across his face and stuck, caught in the wet lines running from his eyes to his chin.\
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"Master, you keep company with men such as these?" Ay asked dubiously.\
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"Not normally, no." Mana smiled and took a few steps in Ay's direction.\
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"Mana, Oberon has a point, in a sense," the Joker pleaded. "This is insane. Just\'d1"\
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"Luke. I want to do something good."\
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With that, Ay and Mana walked out of the pub, leaving the demon and the general and the terrified old barkeep alone in the dark room.\
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"There's no more reasoning to be done, son of Nai," the Joker said after some minutes of silence. "You and I, both being old, should understand the feeling Mana has right now. Nothing we can say is going to stop him. We may as well go find Gem and the others, and come back for Mana in a few days, once he's failed."\
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"I'm surprised you knew me," Oberon said, having calmed down and stopped laughing.\
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"The military men you're used to dealing with are most likely less experienced than I. It goes without saying that I would know an Atlantian when I see one\'d1I've been around for more than three thousand years. Besides, you haven't changed much since back then."\
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"I wonder how long I've lived," Oberon replied.\
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"More importantly, about the Eyes\'d1yes, Oberon. The Eyes is dead."\
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"Are you sure? That would be a serious blow to our side."\
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"Our? Speak for yourself, son of Nai. I don't see myself as a follower of the Light. I simply despise the Inferno, Ragnarr, and so on. I was going to ask before, about why you laughed so hard at Mana's reasons for joining the dabbler, but I think I understand now. You see yourself on the side of the Light because it gives you someone to feel better than and to pretend to humor\'d1the Mana line has declined and, by extension, so has all of Bane's power. I ask, why choose the losing faction?"\
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"Sometimes, demon, I don't know. My father never approved."\
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"Why don't you go back to Atlantis? You can be safe there, safe underwater with your people. You won't need to worry about Maha's armies or Kieku's insanity or Legend's destiny or the whims of insolent young nobles."\
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"Sides are one thing." Oberon leaned back against the counter, looking up at the smoky ceiling. "I'm here now because my father asked me a favor."\
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"He wants Gem for something important, I'm guessing?"\
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"I don't know. He always keeps me in the dark. I guess that's why I want to talk to Kieku\'d1to get some answers."\
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"I can give them to you, Oberon. The Eyes came to Mark and I the day before Ragnarr 'died.' He told us Kieku's objective: to gather all of the Crystals of Mana. He wants to revive Chaos through Mana, to return everything to the way it was before our fathers came to exist. He's going around collecting the Crystals very systematically. A very clear indication that he has at least one of the Entities on his side. One of their Elite Council members."\
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"You're saying the current gods are betraying mankind?"\
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"It's obvious. At least one of the leading four Entities, most likely with a large number of minor Entity followers, is aiding Kieku in a forced Crystal Hunt unlike anything Libra has seen before. One by one, he'll obtain the pieces of Mana. With the last one, Bane's order will begin to fall apart."\
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"That is not the best possible future."\
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"Do you feel like stopping him?"\
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"Yes." Oberon al'Nai continued to gaze up at the ceiling, speaking the whole time in a flat, emotionless voice. His unblinking eyes were still pools of red. No matter how lifeless the Atlantian Prince might have seemed, the Joker knew that he was won over. "Does that mean escorting Mana on his Crystal Hunt?"\
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"No. It means going south, and then east. In order to stop Kieku, you need to crush the entirety of the Marauder organization\'d1every band between here and the Blind Oceans. Every band in Verga, every raiding party in Eldra, every agent in Tryn."\
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"What do the Marauders\'d1"\
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"Trust me, son of Nai." The Joker spoke quietly but forcefully. The barkeeper had long since fled and it was just the demon and the general in the abandoned pub. "The Marauders are connected to Kieku."\
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"I'll do as you say," Oberon spoke with great pauses between words, "because the Marauders are a threat to the Libran people as well. Let's leave now and find Gem, who should be out of the city already. I'll pass my father's request onto him and then take my men into Verga. What will you do?"\
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"I'm going to go with Gem. I'm assuming that Nai's request includes meeting Legend, so I'll just... tag along, in whatever way, and hopefully meet my uncle. I have some things I'd like to tell him."\
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"The Net being closed is inconvenient, isn't it?" Oberon straightened his back and then stood, covering his head once more with his cloak's hood. He walked out of the pub and the Joker followed close behind.\
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"Yeah."\
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The Joker smiled as best a Ly'ban could as he stepped out onto the streets of UnderMist. He was ready to follow Gem as he had followed Kieku, heedless of such things as intentions and goals. He was ready to defend Gem. He was ready to remain in human company until human life would run out. But before that, he had two selfish desires to fulfill.\
\
---\
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"This is it, Master," Ay beamed as he set key in lock and began turning it. They stood at the entrance to a manor similar in nature to that at which the Guardian Heir had been staying. Though there were windows, the curtains were pulled and no light shone through them. With a click, the lock sprung open and the door swung inwards. "Please, come in."\
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Mana walked in. It was dark inside.\
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"Is no one here?" he asked suspiciously.\
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"Indeed, this is odd. The men were having a riot of a party when I left to come find you," Ay's face was hidden in the shadows. Mana noticed that the entire room, from what he could see from the street torchlight, was empty and spotless. There wasn't a dot on any surface, no sign of people having come through before. There had been no party.\
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Mana instantly took a step backwards, hoping to leave without making himself noticed. In a flash, the manor door was shut and he was on the wrong side of it, bound hand and foot with ice-cold ropes of magic. His sword, still bundled up, lay several feet away on the floor.\
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"Those other Underworlders weren't Pillars," Ay chuckled. "Though for mere decoy Runners, they sure did a good job. Your troublesome companions will never expect this." The room lit up as flames danced around the ceiling, artificial lighting created with Jikkuu. "Revolution! The Purge!" Ay laughed. "I had my share of suspicions regarding the Guardian Heir's intelligence, but come on! How many dabblers, do you think, could live in a place like this without being inducted into the Underworld?" He strode over to Mana and kicked the young mage in the shoulder. Mana winced.\
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"Underworld..." Mana breathed.\
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"That's right. I'm a Link, a dabbler in the Underworld's service." Ay turned away from Mana, took off his right glove, and put his palm to his ear. Mana could see, in the Jikkuu-caused light, a red tattoo on the back of Ay's hand in the shape of dagger stuck in a shield. "Link Ay here," Ay spoke after a moment, not addressing Mana. "I'd like a direct line to the Third... yes, that's right, I have him." Another pause. "Lord the Third. I have the Guardian Heir at 34 in the twelfth level... yes, that's right. How fast can you be here? Take the train, then\'d1his companions might be here soon. What? An Atlantian and a demon. Yeah. Yes, Lord the Third."\
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"Miles is coming?" Mana asked timidly.\
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"The Third Architect to you," Ay spat, kicking Mana in the head this time, knocking off his hood and mussing his hair.\
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"So that's a yes," the Guardian Heir murmured as he winced.\
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"He never said I couldn't hurt you a little," Ay grinned. "I'll just tell him that you resisted." The Underworlder raised his leg to step on Mana's head, only to find, in bringing it down, that a wall of air had come to be in between them.\
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"I see," Mana spoke, standing slowly, the magic ropes falling away from him. In his mind, images of Julien smiling and laughing flashed by. Then the day of their departure from the Mana Palace, Julien handing him his sword and belongings. Then the day that the Joker had joined the party, when Julien had grimaced at everything said. Then the morning, when Julien had been arguing with the Thief, and then\'d1Mana blanked. There, in the middle of his memories, was a giant hole. And all around it, Julien smiling that unnatural smile. \
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"I see," Mana repeated. "Sometimes, people can't be trusted." The floor around his new sword burst into flying pieces of wood as the bundle shot into his hand. Before him, Ay was talking furiously to no one, his right hand to his ear and his eyes wide in fear. "I guess that's how things are." Vines burst from the hole in the floor and grass spread across the room as Mana took the black scabbard in his hands and discarded the bandages in which it had been wrapped. The light above disappeared as Ay backed away from the Guardian Heir.\
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Mana put his left hand on the hilt of his sword and the world changed, every visible detail of it streaming constantly upward, only to be replaced by a copy of itself coming from below. Mana felt himself in the middle of a river, a river that was the room but was also the world as a whole. The man before him, who to him was no longer associated with the words "dabbler" or "Ay," streamed along with the rest of what Mana could see. One inch\'d1two inches\'d1gradually Mana drew forth his runeblade.\
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"STOP!" The order came through clearly and Mana's runeblade slid all the way back into its sheath. In an instant, the trance-like state he'd been in was dispelled and he could see the room properly once more. Ay still cowered before him, frightened beyond belief, eyes wide and lips desperately forming inaudible words.\
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Mana turned to see whence the order had come.\
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Standing in the doorway was a man who looked to be made of death. The man was gaunt and tall, a kind of tall that only emphasizes thinness, dressed in over-sized gray clothing that looked to be the trappings of a corpse. His hair cropped short but left unkempt, bits of filth here and there had arranged it into disgusting-seeming clumps. His eyes, set deep in his face, were narrow, and a green to rival the sickest Kaiblade.\
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"Lord Mana," the man spoke, and it shocked Mana to see what appeared to be a skeleton talk. "Please allow me to introduce myself." He came in and sat down atop a giant toadstool. It was only then that Mana realized that the floor had been turned into a sea of green and the walls into a forest. "I'm Miles, Third Architect of the Underworld. Please do forgive me for sitting\'d1I'm awfully exhausted." The purple bags under his eyes did not betray his words. "How do you do?" He extended a hand, worn and thin. Mana didn't take it.\
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"You're Lord the First?"\
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"The Third, now, actually," Miles said, retracting his arm and using the previously proffered hand to massage his neck. "But before anything else, I suppose I must apologize on behalf of my useless subordinate. I hope he didn't hurt you too badly."\
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Mana didn't say anything, just tossed a cautious glance Ay's way. The Link was now writhing on the floor, his mind still in pieces at Mana's display of power.\
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"I mean no ill toward you," Miles assured Mana. "I do, however, need a word with an acquaintance of yours and, as you were easier to catch than he, I hope you can play the role of a good hostage\'d1"\
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"That's all you want?" Mana asked abruptly.\
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"Yes, yes that's all I want. I need to talk to the Roof-runner\'d1"\
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"I won't do it."\
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"So I need to force you?"\
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"Force is on my side," Mana threatened, brandishing the sheathed runeblade. "Leave Gem alone."\
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"Cute. Gem, eh? Well, let me tell you something, Milord. It would pain your friend Gem an awful lot if you were to kill me or any of my underlings. Please understand our position, and his\'d1no one wants anyone to get hurt. Except for Ay, maybe. He was forced into the Underworld by a recruiter ten years back, threatened with being turned into the mage prosecution department back in Libra. Please understand."\
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"You say you don't want anyone to get hurt, but what about Gem?"\
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"The Roof-runner defied our organization, and should thusly pay the price."\
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"It's a ridiculous price to pay! I... I don't know the details, I suppose," Mana stammered, "but Gem isn't bad, and he probably wanted to get away from crime!"\
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"Hahahaha," Miles laughed good-naturedly as he leaned back in his makeshift seat. "You're a good kid, Milord. The Roof-runner? Not bad? Oh, that's grand. He was the worst, Milord. Do you want to know how many he killed for the same reason I want him dead now? He was our finest bounty hunter in Verga and we used him on all our traitors. And his companion, for all those years I knew him, was a demon. Is he still with the demon? Hahaha, not bad. Oh, Entities."\
\
\f2\i He must be referring to Ji'Lopan, that Ly'ban that mentored Gem.
\f1\i0 Mana imagined, for a moment, asking a question.
\f2\i Luke, have you ever killed anyone?
\f1\i0 "Of course I have, and more than I can recall. I was in Maha's army, after all."
\f2\i Oberon, have you killed a person before?
\f1\i0 "What do armies do, Milord?"
\f2\i Julien, tell me you've never killed a man before
\f1\i0 . "Of course not." (An obvious lie, Jul\'d1you killed Captain Guhnss!)
\f2\i Gem, have you killed anyone?
\f1\i0 "No lies, right? ... ahh, what does telling matter\'d1yes."\
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"How many?"\
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"What? You want to know?" Miles bore an expression of shock as he caught himself from falling sideways.\
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"Yes."\
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"Why would you want to know a figure like that, Milord?"\
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"I want to know how many of you I can kill while escaping without becoming evil."}